


Crystal Rings

by MaiKusakabe



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, F/F, Family, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Season/Series 01, What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2019-10-23 21:50:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17691731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaiKusakabe/pseuds/MaiKusakabe
Summary: By mere chance, Hotaru Tomoe picks up the Silver Crystal during one of the Senshi's battles against the Dark Kingdom. Nothing will ever be the same.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've wanted to write a Sailor Moon fic ever since I first watched the series when I was a little kid. I never got around to it, though, not until now.
> 
> This story is mainly anime-based, as that's the story I grew up with and loved, but I'll be taking elements from the manga here and there. I never liked the way the Outer Senshi, and especially Hotaru, got benched in the anime, nor how the Hotaru from Sailor Moon S never got an actual shot at life past Pharaoh 90. With that in mind, let's dive in.

Sailor Jupiter doubled her efforts to free herself from the Youma’s rope-like tentacles when Sailor Moon went flying backwards, her Moon Stick flying from her hand before she could use it.

The Youma, true to form, laughed and then started gloating, going on about how it was going to kill them.

This was bad, this was _very_ bad.

The Youma had isolated this park inside some sort of alternate dimension, and they were surrounded by the unconscious civilians that had been trapped along with them. Unless the other Senshi somehow figured out how to enter this space, Jupiter and Moon were on their own. And with their luck, either Kunzite or Tuxedo Mask would show up before things improved.

A burst of light suddenly dispersed the shifting, shadowy edges that had enveloped the park.

Jupiter’s head turned in the direction the light was coming from so abruptly that her neck protested the movement. There, kneeling up and holding the Moon Stick in her hands with an absent expression, was a girl. The Silver Crystal shone brightly on its place in the Moon Stick, casting odd shadows on the girl’s face. Her eyes had lost all focus and a purple, shining light overtook them.

Jupiter fell on her knees when the Youma’s tentacles released her, too shocked to register that she’d been freed until she was down.

The Youma exclaimed something —its outrage, most likely, but Jupiter was too shocked herself to pay attention to any words— and took a step towards the girl, then another.

No one should be able to make the Silver Crystal react so… so _accidentally,_ other than Sailor Moon, but the crystal kept shining. The girl’s hair was waving as though caught in a strong wind, and then a pinkish mist began to seep out of her.

Jupiter reacted when the Youma was mere steps away from the girl, pushing herself to her feet and raising her hands to summon a Supreme Thunder. Before she could speak, though, the pink mist spread out forward and encompassed the Youma. The Youma screamed, but so did the girl.

The Silver Crystal’s light grew brighter.

Jupiter had to shield her eyes from the light, and when she could open them again and lower her arms the park was back to normal. The Youma was gone, and the girl was crumpled on the ground, shaking and with the Moon Stick laying discarded by her side.

Pushing past her shock, Jupiter rushed over to the girl and knelt next to her.

Moon staggered over too, dropping to her knees by the girl’s other side.

“What was that?” Moon asked, as shocked as Jupìter herself felt.

Jupiter shook her head. She placed a hand on the girl’s trembling shoulder to turn her over.

“No idea, but she—“ Jupiter trailed off. There was something shining on the girl’s forehead. A symbol. One not unlike the symbol Jupiter herself knew that had been on her own forehead before Luna gave her the transformation pen.

“She’s a Senshi?!” Moon exclaimed, leaning forward.

“Guys!” They heard Mars yell, and Jupiter turned her head to see Mars, Mercury, and Venus running to them. Moon didn’t look up, still focused on the girl. “Are you okay?! I sensed a very dark presence!” Mars demanded when she skidded to a halt by their side.

Jupiter blinked.

“You mean the Youma?”

“No, something else. But it’s gone now,” Mars said thoughtfully.

“Anyway, are you two okay? We couldn’t get in,” Venus asked.

“Yeah, we…” Jupiter looked down, at Moon and the unconscious girl who was no longer shaking. The symbol was gone. “She saved us.”

“Who’s she?” Mercury asked, kneeling next to Moon.

“She’s one of us.” It was Moon who spoke, and her words caught everyone’s attention.

“What?”

 

* * *

 

 

In the end, they had moved away from the park before the authorities and ambulances arrived, taking the mysterious perhaps-Senshi with them to Rei’s place.

Back in their human forms, they sat around a bed Rei had set up for the girl in one of the temple’s many rooms.

“Is it possible that there are more Senshi besides us?” Ami asked after a long silence.

“Maybe? But look at her, she’s just a kid,” Rei said, eyes focused on the girl.

“Hotaru Tomoe, fifth grade student at Mugen Academy,” Minako said, making all of them turn to look at her. She was reading an ID card, the girl’s bag open by her side.

“Minako! You can’t go through someone’s things like that!” Ami scolded her, but Minako just shrugged.

“We need to know who she is, right? Anyway, where are Luna and Artemis when you need them?” she asked, looking around pointedly.

Rei sighed.

“If you’d been paying attention yesterday, you’d know they’re working on locating our enemy’s base.”

“Yeah, yeah, but shouldn’t they be here for this?”

“I’ll call them,” Makoto said, trying to stall a senseless argument. She stood up and left the room to call Luna and Artemis from the hallway. She hoped they could answer some questions.

 

* * *

 

 

“Well, there _were_ other Senshi in the Silver Millennium aside from you, so it _is_ possible this girl is the reincarnation of one of them,” Luna explained once Makoto and Usagi were done retelling the story of what had happened. “Still, for her to have destroyed a Youma like that…”

“She had the Silver Crystal,” Usagi said in a tone that suggested it explained everything.

Rei rolled her eyes. Give it to Usagi to oversimplify any situation.

“Using the Silver Crystal isn’t so easy, you moron. You’re the only one who’s managed to activate it without thinking,” Rei added, trying to keep her words vague enough to stop Usagi from thinking about the circumstances in which _that_ had happened. Fortunately, Usagi was too focused on the mysterious Senshi to remember she’d only managed to use the Silver Crystal unconsciously the day Tuxedo Mask was kidnapped.

“And then there’s that pink _thing_ that came out of her,” Makoto said, frowning. “It looked like steam or something. I’ve never seen the Silver Crystal do that to anyone.”

Luna shook her head.

“I don’t know what that could have been. If she’d been an enemy, she would have been destroyed with the Youma.”

“She’s not an enemy!” Usagi exclaimed. “She’s a Senshi, she’s a friend! And she saved us.”

“I know, I know!” Luna hurried to appease Usagi. “I’m not calling her an enemy —there were no evil Senshi in the Silver Millennium— I just mean that I don’t know what that thing you two saw could have been.”

Rei frowned and looked down at Hotaru. Rei had sensed a disturbing presence, but it had been gone when the distortion in space had disappeared. Could it have been related to whatever had come out of Hotaru? Rei shook her head. It couldn’t be. According to her ID card, she was only eleven; it was impossible to imagine anything bad coming out of such a little girl. And Rei had checked her over; there was nothing evil about her.

It was then that Hotaru stirred.

“Guys,” Rei said in a soft voice, gesturing with her head at Hotaru.

Everybody fell silent and watched as Hotaru´s eyelids fluttered. She opened her eyes, a disoriented expression on her face. She blinked up at them.

“Who…?” she began, sitting up gingerly.

“You’re awake!” Usagi exclaimed, leaning close to her with a wide smile.

Hotaru blinked again. She looked thoroughly taken aback.

“How are you feeling?” Ami asked, smiling softly in that way of hers that always put people at ease.

“I… I’m fine,” Hotaru said. She frowned and looked down at her hands, as though examining them. “I’m really well,” she added, sounding surprised.

Rei frowned, not liking something in the way Hotaru spoke. As though she _shouldn’t_ be feeling well.

“What happened? Who are you?” Hotaru asked. She looked at each of them, a confused expression on her face.

They exchanged concerned looks. How did you tell someone they were a Senshi without them believing you crazy? There was no battle going on that required Hotaru to transform without asking questions, the way most of them had found out the truth.

“You fainted,” Ami said finally. “What do you remember?”

“I was at the park,” Hotaru said, frowning down at her hands again. She looked up. “There was a monster! What did it do?” she asked, looking genuinely worried about the answer.

Rei turned to Makoto, thinking she should be the one to explain, as she’d been there (Rei wasn’t counting on Usagi to give the explanations).

“Well…” Makoto began, but before she could say anything else, Luna jumped on the bed next to Hotaru, drawing her attention.

The half moon on Luna’s forehead shone, startling Hotaru, and then a beam of light came forth and connected with Hotaru’s forehead, all but freezing her in place with her eyes wide open. Hotaru’s hair flew up, and a purple light coalesced where Luna’s light connected them, immediately taking the shape of a symbol resembling the letter h.

Next to Minako, Artemis gasped.

“Saturn…?” he said, incredulous.

Rei didn’t turn to him, focused as she was on Luna and Hotaru. From the beam of light, a pen not unlike Rei’s own appeared and floated down to Hotaru’s hand. Once it had settled, the beam of light vanished, and with it the symbol on Hotaru’s forehead.

“What…?” Hotaru began, but cut herself off. Her eyes went from Luna to the pen in her hand and to Luna again. “What happened?” she asked the room at large.

“You’re a Sailor Senshi, Hotaru,” Luna replied. Hotaru jumped in place, startled and shocked. Rei remembered feeling like that the first time Luna spoke to her. “Sailor Saturn.”

“You spoke!” Hotaru exclaimed, alarmed.

“Of course I did,” Luna said, looking indignant. Rei had a suspicion that Luna was tired of that reaction, but well, she was _a talking cat_ , it wasn’t as though she could blame anyone for being shocked.

Hotaru blinked several times, her eyes glued to Luna. Finally, she spoke.

“But I can’t be a Senshi,” she protested, looking down at the pen in her hand as though it would bite her.

“Of course you can,” Minako said, leaning forward. She grinned. “If Usagi here can be a Senshi, of course you can.”

“Hey!” Usagi complained.

Hotaru looked at Minako, then at Usagi, and finally around the room. She looked as though she was seeing them for the first time.

“Are you… the Sailor Senshi?” she asked, amazement and hesitation warring over her face.

Minako nodded enthusiastically.

“I’m Minako Aino, better known as Sailor Venus,” she said, striking as much of a pose as she could while sitting down.

 

* * *

 

 

Hotaru felt as though she would wake up any moment.

Rei — _Sailor Mars_ — had brought some tea and now they were all sitting around a low table while the Sailor Senshi told Hotaru about what happened at the park and the enemy they faced. As for Hotaru, she could do nothing but hold onto her cup of tea and look down at the pen that apparently was _her transformation pen_.

“A mist?” she asked, looking at Makoto for confirmation.

“Yeah,” Usagi said while Makoto nodded. “It was weird, that’s never happened before.”

“Oh.” Hotaru looked down at her hands again, resisting the urge to glance at Rei. Was that the evil presence Rei had said she’d sensed? Did it have anything to do with why Hotaru was feeling so well? For once in longer than she could remember, nothing in her body hurt, and she didn’t feel as though her breath would leave her any second.

A hand on her shoulder startled her out of her musings, and Hotaru looked up to see Ami giving her a worried look.

“Are you okay?” Ami asked.

“Yes,” Hotaru hurried to assure her. “It’s just… this is a lot to take in.” Which was true. Hotaru glanced at the transformation pen again. She couldn’t believe it; she still expected to wake up any moment now.

“We know,” Ami told her with an understanding smile.

“Hey, it’s a bit late,” Minako said, leaning forward on her elbows. “Why don’t we walk you home and meet again tomorrow?”

Hotaru blinked. Meet again? Did they want to see her again?

That was an odd concept for her.

“I’d like that,” she told Minako honestly.

 

* * *

 

 

Hotaru was a quiet girl. Ami had noticed this immediately, followed by the realization that she wasn’t used to being surrounded by people, or to be part of a group. She doubted most of the others had noticed, but Ami had spent enough time alone to identify the traits of someone who was used to spend their time alone.

She didn’t think it was fair. Hotaru was a nice kid, she deserved to have friends to spend her time with. From the way she’d reacted when Minako had suggested to meet again tomorrow, Ami was pretty certain she had none.

“We’re close,” Hotaru said timidly, looking over her shoulder to where Usagi, Makoto, and Minako were ogling the large houses of this neighborhood. Rei was pretending to keep an eye on them while she, too, glanced around at the surrounding houses.

It was growing dark now, and the street lights had been turned on while they walked.

“You won’t get in trouble for being late?” Ami asked Hotaru. She’d had a very strict curfew back at that age, and she didn’t want to get Hotaru in trouble.

“No, it’s fine,” Hotaru said with a tiny smile. “Papa won’t be angry because I’m a bit late.”

“I’m glad,” Ami said. She picked up on the fact that Hotaru had only mentioned her father. Were her parents divorced? It was a question for another day.

When they turned the next corner, light assaulted Ami’s eyes. Down the street and not far from them, a mass of police cars and fire trucks surrounded a pile of rubble inside the outer wall of a house, their bright lights illuminating the entire street. Ami raised her hands to cover her mouth, wondering what had happened.

“PAPA!” Hotaru screamed, taking off at a run towards the crumbled house.


	2. Chapter 2

Haruka Tenoh sat up in bed, for once startled awake and clenching her fists on her sheets for a different reason than the usual one. For the first time in months she hadn’t seen the end of the world in her dreams; no terrible wave of destruction razing everything in its wake, no girl who might or might not be Michiru Kaioh telling her about a destiny Haruka didn’t want anything to do with.

No, tonight, Haruka had just seen a girl. A girl too small to be the perhaps-Michiru, cast in shadows that made any of her features unrecognizable, running through what had seemed to be endless darkness. Sadness, fear, and loneliness had permeated the dream in a way that had Haruka still trembling.

It had been inoffensive enough, it should have been a relief from her recent dream patterns, and yet those emotions had been so chocking, so _real_ , that Haruka thought she might have preferred another go at the end of the world.

 

* * *

 

 

Hotaru sat huddled next to Makoto, arms wrapped around her drawn up knees and her eyes red from crying.

Usagi didn’t know what to do for her. The police had said they thought Hotaru’s house might have been destroyed due to a gas leak, and Hotaru’s dad was in critical condition. They’d been sitting around the waiting room for hours now, to the point that a nurse had brought them some food and drinks a while ago. Not even Usagi had missed the fact that Hotaru had barely managed to drink half a cup of tea, much less eat anything.

“You could stay with me,” Makoto said suddenly into the thick silence. “While your dad… recovers. I live alone; I’d like the company.”

Hotaru looked up at Makoto, a sad and surprised expression on her face that Usagi didn’t like at all.

“Really?” Hotaru asked in a small voice. “You don’t mind?”

“Of course not!” Makoto said with a wide smile that was too cheerful. She was always so good at being strong for others…

Minako clasped her hands together.

“And we should go shopping! You can’t wear the same clothes all the time!”

Hotaru paused for a moment. Then she gave Minako a tiny, grateful smile. It was a sad expression, but Usagi found it sincere all the same.

“Of course. I’m sure Papa will be happy to pay you back once he’s better.”

There was a short, very uncomfortable pause.

“Of course he will,” Rei said finally, reaching out to place a hand on Hotaru’s knee.

Usagi looked at Ami, took in her grim expression, and realized she wasn’t the only one who thought the same: Hotaru’s father was unlikely to make it. The doctors had been very careful when talking to them about his condition.

 

* * *

 

 

They had found a woman’s body in the rubble of Hotaru’s house. Hotaru had been subdued when she told the policeman it was likely Kaori, her father’s secretary. It wasn’t until hours later, when Professor Tomoe was moved to a private room, deep in a coma, that Hotaru confessed in a barely-there whisper that she had never liked Kaori. The way she spoke, one would think Hotaru felt responsible for the explosion.

Nobody had known what to do or say, but then Luna had snuck in through the window and announced everything was fine for Hotaru to stay with Makoto. Some of the others may have missed it, but Ami understood that to mean Luna and Artemis had done something to mess with the system. Breaking the law didn’t sit well with Ami, but she understood that they couldn’t let the authorities take care of the situation. Hotaru herself had told them she had no other relatives, and while dealing with her loss was something they would all feel difficulty to help her with, they could at least help her with the other changes in her life and be there for her.

By that time, dawn had long since passed, and the grim silence in the hospital room was broken by a loud growl. Ami turned to Usagi, already very familiar with the sounds her empty stomach made. Usagi blushed scarlet and shrank into herself, looking around at everyone. For once, she didn’t immediately say she was hungry or complained about the long hours.

“Are you hungry, Usagi?” Hotaru asked.

Usagi nodded, still as red as before.

“I know! Why don’t we go grab some breakfast?” Makoto suggested, standing up and pulling Usagi to her feet with her.

“I’m coming too,” Minako said. “What’s your size, Hotaru? I’ll get you a change of clothes while we’re out,” she added with an encouraging smile. Ami may not have been friends with Minako for too long yet, but she knew Minako thrived on helping others.

Hotaru blushed.

“Oh-Well…”

 

* * *

 

 

While Hotaru changed in the room’s en-suite bathroom, Rei suggested they all pooled their allowances together. Not all of them had their money with them, but Ami did some quick numbers and announced it should be enough to get Hotaru the basic necessities, at least for this season.

“What about food?” Rei asked, looking up at Makoto.

Makoto waved her hand.

“That’s no problem. She’s not Usagi; we’ll do just fine.”

Usagi muttered something, but it was lost in her mouthful of bun, disproving whatever complaint she’d just tried to voice.

The bathroom door clicked and Hotaru stepped out, looking shy in the red skirt and yellow sweater Minako had chosen for her. One would think the clothes wouldn’t quite go with Hotaru’s black shoes, but Minako had also found a pair of odd-patterned stockings in all three colors that made the outfit work. Seeing Hotaru dressed in bright colors instead of the black clothes now stored in the shopping bag made her age all that more apparent.

Of course, before Hotaru had much time to look embarrassed, Minako decided it was time to gush over her, and Usagi promptly joined in.

Rei guessed that, despite their general obliviousness, not even those two had missed Hotaru’s painful shyness.

Rei looked over to where Sôichi Tomoe was hooked up to machinery and wondered if he had been too busy with whatever work he did to notice his daughter had some issues. Rei then promptly felt terrible about having such thoughts of a man who was on the brink or death or in a permanent coma. The doctors weren’t sure yet, they had told Makoto before, and Makoto had shared the news the moment Hotaru couldn’t hear them.

 

* * *

 

 

That morning, after an odd and very unsettling dream —which was saying something for her— Michiru Kaioh awoke to the news of a terrible gas explosion at the house of one Sôichi Tomoe, whom Michiru had been investigating for a while due to the leads she’s found. According to the news, the explosion had happened mid-afternoon; Professor Tomoe was in critical condition, his secretary Kaori Kuromine was presumed dead (they were waiting for confirmation from the autopsy that the body found in the house was hers), and fortunately Professor Tomoe’s daughter was safe, as she hadn’t been home at the time of the explosion.

Once the important bits of news were over and the reporters moved on to talk about the current speculations around the incident, Michiru let herself fall on her small couch and proceeded to analyze the new information and try to make it fit into the puzzle she’d begun to piece together months ago.

Most of the cursed or possessed people Michiru’s sixth sense as Sailor Neptune had led her to had been somehow connected to Mugen Academy; either as students, teachers, or relatives of one of the former. That was how Michiru had first heard of Professor Tomoe, one of the first people she had investigated due to his founding of Mugen Academy. The strange story of his and his daughter’s survival of what should have been a fatal laboratory accident that in fact had killed everyone else had done nothing but further Michiru’s suspicion. Tomoe and his Academy weren’t the only things Michiru had been investigating, of course, but this explosion was nothing short of curious.

Michiru abandoned her plans of a Sunday off and decided to head to the remnants of Tomoe’s house to see if she could discover anything.

 

* * *

 

 

When Hotaru woke up, she didn’t have the luxury of a blissful moment of obliviousness, no confusion or lack of knowledge of what had happened. She knew immediately she was at Makoto’s home, that her father was in the hospital, her house gone, and… and she wasn’t sure who, exactly, she was.

She sat up on the futon, noticing first and foremost that Makoto had already left the room. Hotaru wasn’t surprised she hadn’t woken up then; she’d always been a heavy sleeper, it was one of the many side effects of her sickly condition. A condition which, Hotaru reminded herself, she hadn’t felt since the park. She wasn’t naïve, she knew the weekend’s events should have seen her down from anxiety alone, and yet her body was fine.

It was strangely disconcerting, given everything else.

She got out of bed and focused on folding the futon and setting it back where Makoto had kept it, refusing to think anymore about her lack of any episodes.

She heard some tinkering before she stepped out of the bedroom. The living room space was a strange mix of clutter and cleanliness, her bag set to one side and her clothes folded neatly on a chair. Hotaru was dressed in an old pajama of Makoto’s that drooped down her shoulders and would’ve dragged through the floor if she hadn’t folded up the legs.

“Good morning,” Makoto greeted her from the kitchenette, not turning away from whatever she was mixing. “Why don’t you take a shower? Breakfast will take a bit. You can use the blue towel.”

“Oh. Of course. Thank you.”

Hotaru hurried over to her bag and picked up the toiletries Minako bought her yesterday before going to the bathroom to take the quickest shower she could manage. She didn’t want to impose even more than she already was, but at the same time Makoto and the others were being so nice that refusing their hospitality felt unthinkable. Today, Makoto and Usagi were skipping school to take Hotaru shopping for more clothes. Using their own money, no less. They had assured her it was fine, that Ami’s notes were better than whatever the teachers could explain in class, but Hotaru felt bad all the same. It wasn’t like her case: Ami had said Hotaru’s teachers would understand it if she missed some days of class, but Hotaru knew her teachers would have been happy to be rid of her for a few days even if nothing had happened, and her classmates even more so. But the girls were nice, normal people who shouldn’t have to compromise any part of their lives because of her.

Hotaru caught sight of her own reflection on the mirror and stopped. There were deep, very noticeable shadows under her eyes, but at the same time her skin appeared to have gained some color. Somehow, despite her exhaustion and the little rest from the weekend, she looked healthier than she had on Saturday morning.

She shook her head and focused on taking that shower. As mysterious as it was, Hotaru didn’t really have the energy to think about what had happened at the park.

She had even manage to mostly forget about the pen tucked in one of her bag’s pockets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If Luna P can brainwash people into thinking Chibiusa is part of the family, then Luna and Artemis can totally hack the system to make it look like social services are taking care of Hotaru.
> 
> I’m working loosely with headcanons here, but I recently watched the anime and Professor Tomoe said that if any of the Senshi had managed to use the Holy Grail properly then the laboratory would’ve been destroyed. I imagine Mistress 9 being pushed out of Hotaru’s body and obliterated would also have an effect. As you saw, this is what I chose to go with.
> 
> As for Haruka and Michiru, we don’t have a timeframe for when their meeting happened, but I headcanon it being sometime during the school year previous to Sailor Moon S, which means first or second season. For plot’s sake, I’m placing it on late first season. Right now they’ve met, but only once. This takes place after the race but before the ship scene.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been a while, certainly longer than I expected to take, but here is chapter 3!
> 
> Special thanks to Astraearose for beta reading :3

Entering the hospital without raising suspicion was easier than one would have expected. All Michiru had to do was walk as though she had nothing to hide, just another person visiting a relative or friend. Then she headed for the cafeteria, where she sat for a mediocre, yet calm lunch while listening to the personnel coming in and out of the cafeteria for their own meals.

The explosion at Sôichi Tomoe’s house was the current hot topic, and it didn’t take long to guess which area of the hospital he was in from the chatter around.

After she had eaten enough of her lunch, Michiru went to the nearest elevator to go up to the tenth floor. This was where were the rooms for long stay patients were located, and from all accounts she heard, it appeared Professor Tomoe would have to stay here a long time.

 “Wait!” someone all but yelled, and Michiru saw two girls rushing toward the elevator she occupied. She reached a hand out, manners prompting her to hold the doors open before she could think that perhaps she would be better off leaving these girls to wait for another.

It was too late, and Michiru watched as the blonde girl with the pigtails dragged a younger, dark haired girl closer. From the younger girl’s blush, it was clear the blonde had been the one to call out to Michiru. They received some censoring looks from the people around; there was no reason for being in such a hurry inside a building, never mind that this was a hospital.

“Thank you!” the blonde girl thanked Michiru with a smile, ushering the other one inside the elevator before stepping in.

Michiru smiled at them and let the doors close.

“Which floor?” she asked.

The blonde girl blinked, looked down at the panel, and waved her hand.

“Same as you,” she replied with a nervous, embarrassed chuckle, as though her actions had just caught up with her.

Michiru smiled at her again to show she wasn’t offended, then her eyes fell on the younger girl. The girl had her head bent down and was clutching a fresh bouquet of flowers. From what Michiru could see of her face, she looked sad and very tired.

“Are you visiting a relative?” Michiru asked softly, the words leaving her mouth before she made a conscious decision to ask them.

The girl looked up at her through her bangs and bit her bottom lip.

“My father. He’s hurt.”

“Oh,” Michiru exhaled, caught by the devastated look in the girl’s eyes. No one so young should look so _sad_. Michiru bent forward to be on eye level with the girl and spoke more sincerely than she had since this nightmare began. “I hope he gets better soon.”

The girl’s eyes actually opened wider, as if surprised, before she smiled, soft and grateful, up at Michiru.

“Thank you,” she replied softly.

The elevator came to a stop, the pleasant recorded voice announcing they had arrived on the tenth floor, and the doors slid open. Michiru gestured for the girls to exit first and they both bowed politely —even if somewhat exaggerated on the blonde girl’s part— before stepping out.

They walked down the hallway, Michiru a few steps back and glancing discreetly at the names by the doors, until the girls entered a door a third into the long stretch of rooms.

When Michiru reached the door the girls had disappeared into, she froze. There, written in the blocky, impersonal symbols of a hospital printer, sat the one name she had been looking for.

Sôichi Tomoe.

Michiru stood still, staring at the name and the closed door next to it. She had wanted to assess Professor Tomoe’s condition herself, read whatever information was in the papers in his hospital room to ensure his condition was as disheartening as the papers suggested. But she couldn’t go in there, not with his daughter visiting him.

It was then that it hit Michiru. She had lied. Without meaning to, unaware of what her words truly meant, she had lied to Sôichi Tomoe’s daughter. She had seen the effect Professor Tomoe’s condition had, past the impersonal words of a news article, and yet she still hoped he would never improve, that Professor Tomoe would remain unconscious and keep that awful future away with him.

Once more disgusted with the kind of person she had become, Michiru took a step back, then continued walking down the hallway until she found the next elevator that could take her out of here.

The smile of Sòichi Tomoe’s daughter was seared into her mind.

—

Makoto adjusted Hotaru’s hat once more. It was an old hat of Rei’s from when she was younger, but it fit Hotaru well enough. Hotaru wasn’t dressed in her school uniform, they wouldn’t be able to buy replacements for the ones she had lost in the explosion until next month at the very least, but Ami had used the Disguise Pen to act as the official guardian Luna and Artemis had fabricated for Hotaru, and she had spoken to the administration in Mugen Academy to ensure Hotaru wouldn’t be in trouble for not wearing the uniform —Makoto knew well how annoying some teachers could be about that. Ami had even somehow procured temporary copies of Hotaru’s textbooks until they could be replaced.

“Do you have everything?” she asked for the third time this morning, now finally at the doors to Hotaru’s school.

Hotaru nodded. She had grown quieter as they approached the school, and Makoto hadn’t missed the many looks they had drawn as they walked. She could only imagine the amount of gossip that had been going around about what had happened at Hotaru’s house, and she hoped nobody would make an insensitive comment in their curiosity.

“Remember, Rei will pick you up here,” Makoto reminded her, taking a step back. “Don’t worry too much about classes, okay?”

“Okay,” Hotaru said, and she managed a small smile.

Makoto grinned at her.

“Have a good day.”

—

Following Luna’s advice, Hotaru had taken to carrying her transformation pen around, even if she had yet to find herself in a situation where she needed to use it. Having it on herself was a surprising comfort, a constant reminder that she wasn’t alone, and she found herself fingering it throughout the day while she was at school.

Today, a week after her return to classes, she had been waiting for close to half an hour, but Minako hadn’t come. She knew it was possible; even though the girls had made a rotation to pick Hotaru up from school, they had warned her it was possible their Senshi duties would get in the way.

Deciding she had waited long enough, that Minako must be out there as Sailor Venus right now, Hotaru left her place by the school entrance and started walking. She could go to Makoto’s apartment on her own, she knew the way well already. Or perhaps, Hotaru thought, she would go to the game center. She hadn’t tried any of the games despite Usagi’s insistence, but she had accompanied the girls there often enough. The game center and the café above it were the most common places where they met, and perhaps one of them would be there. Today Makoto had some errands to run and wouldn’t be home until later. Hotaru didn’t like to be alone, she had never liked it, and she had grown used to being surrounded by other people quickly.

Perhaps, if any of the girls were at the center or café, Hotaru could ask them to accompany her to visit her father.

Her father hadn’t woken up yet, and the doctors couldn’t tell her when he would wake. Or _if_ he would wake at all. Nobody had talked about this last possibility around her, but Hotaru wasn’t naïve. She didn’t want to think about it, but sometimes she couldn’t avoid it.

Despite Makoto’s best efforts, Hotaru hadn’t been sleeping well. Her nights were plagued with the thoughts she often managed to push aside during the day.

“Oi, Tomoe!”

Hotaru stopped, snapped out of her thoughts by the shout.

She turned around to find herself faced with a group of students from her school. She recognized some —classmates, though she could hardly say she had spoken to them more than once— but most of them were unknown to her. Mostly older students.

“Yes?” she asked, resisting a sudden urge to take a step back. She didn’t like crowds, especially crowds of fellow students. It had been years since being faced by them had led to a happy experience. And now, in an empty street by an equally empty park, Hotaru felt more anxious than she had the day she returned to school.

—

Haruka hated walking from school. She had gone to great lengths to ensure she could drive for a reason, even if her lengths didn’t quite adhere to the law sometimes. Still, even Haruka could do nothing when some idiot who shouldn’t be driving crashed his car into her innocently parked bike. Now here she was, forced to walk home for the third day while her bike was at the garage.

And what a dreary day it was. The sky was overcast, so dark Haruka expected to be drenched any moment, and the chill in the air was enough to give the impression the slight wind was cutting the exposed skin of her face. The only advantage to this weather was the streets were empty enough she didn’t have to dodge people as she walked.

“—Pity you didn’t die in that explosion.”

Haruka stopped, shocked by the venom in those words. She frowned ahead, at the closest corner, from where the voice had come. Turning at the park wasn’t in her route, yet she lowered her school bag from over her shoulder, clenched her fist around it, and headed for that very corner, intent on stopping whatever situation would prompt such a cruel comment.

Expecting to walk on two groups of would-be thugs about to start a brawl or some other nonsense, she was shocked to find instead children. Facing her, though clearly not seeing her, were a group of ten or so kids, ranging in age from elementary school to Haruka’s own age, and focused on a girl whose back was to Haruka.

A glance and those overheard words were enough for Haruka to form a picture of what was happening, and she didn’t like it one bit.

_Ten on one?_

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded, striding forward to place herself next to the lone girl, who was shrunk in on herself, shoulders drawn and a hand clutching something in her pocket.

That drew the attention of everyone present, and Haruka was treated to some truly annoyed looks. The boy at the front, of about her age, opened his mouth, his expression making it clear whatever he was about to say would earn him a punch from Haruka. He never spoke. Another of the boys put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.

Whatever was happening here, they didn’t seem to want to get into a fight over it. Shooting the girl next to Haruka truly hateful looks, they turned around and headed in the opposite direction in silence. Haruka waited until they had disappeared from sight to turn to the girl.

“Are you okay?” she asked gently, noticing the girl’s still drawn position.

The girl nodded, her head bent down, and she seemed to steel herself before she looked up at Haruka.

“Thank you,” the girl said, the words barely registering in Haruka’s mind.

Facing her with grateful yet sad eyes was the girl that had been haunting Haruka’s nights over the last two weeks.


End file.
